


tell a hundred: drabbles from shakespeare

by interestinggin



Category: SHAKESPEARE William - Works
Genre: 100 Drabble Challenge, Drabble Collection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-06-14
Packaged: 2019-04-24 05:40:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14349087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/interestinggin/pseuds/interestinggin
Summary: and when i do put down my penmy memories will fly like birds.when i am done, when i am dead,- and finished with my hundred words.a hundred stories of a hundred words each, based on the plays of william shakespeare(with apologies to neil gaiman for the summary)





	1. a birth and/or a death: henry vi

**Author's Note:**

> these stories are inspired by, and written for, the [#TellAHundred](https://tellahundred.tumblr.com) challenge on tumblr - a challenge to write drabbles about shakespeare' plays from a group of shared prompts
> 
> as such, they vary wildly in theme, style, and content. warnings are given chapter by chapter, and will also vary wildly.
> 
> i am trying to do a drabble for each play. not sure what i'll do when i hit drabble number thirty eight. i guess we'll see when we get there.

**a birth and/or a death**

Storms at a birth are an omen, though no-one will say of what. But a dark and silent heir born to a golden summer king - that needs no soothsayer’s explanation. The wind may wail; the boy does not.

The midwife corrects Catherine’s grip; she scowls. A queen knows how to hold a king. She has done it for nine long years. He suckles at her breast but makes no sound and the signs are clear; he will be mighty, or he will be mad.

Wild, distraught, inconsolable; Catherine understands the wind. Both she and it cry the whole night long.


	2. a silenced character speaks: titus andronicus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: this drabble, appropriately enough for titus, contains references to rape and cannibalism

**a silenced character speaks**

Silenced, hah? Silenced not by violence but by rage; ‘tis rage alone that stops my mouth from screaming when it cannot speak. My hands have bled since the cut; my legs are painted likewise, stained with crimson hate; I choke on every word I cannot spit.

Tell her they died weeping. In patient silence I carve their meat, stew their bones, knead the dough. They may have fucked me, but they did not defile me. That was all Tamora.

Father, kill the witch, but let her first beg me as I begged her.

I am choking. Let her choke too.


	3. spring: the tempest

Ariel’s skin is hardened bark; their breath is flowing sap. 

A breeze drifts aimlessly from the sea across the island, and Ariel laughs; Ariel cries; Ariel sings. 

Ariel dreams of wet grass and drops of rain, of rosy cloud-flecked skies, of coming summer storms. 

Ariel can feel warmth in the bones they do not have; as sun, as song, as slender shoots of green bubbling up from far beneath, eager to see the light. New birth, and awakening, and one day - one day soon - freedom.

Ariel is cursed, yes; trapped in winter pine - but spring always comes in the end. 


	4. sympathy for a character you dislike: the taming of the shrew

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: this chapter drabble contains references to canonical domestic violence, and could be interpreted to reference child abuse too, if you squint.

Let me tell you that Petruchio’s mother could not love him; that his father knew, and did not care. He grew a clever and twisted man, and no-one hated him more than Kate - except himself.

Money is a luxury that only the rich disdain. If he must wed, let the banns be writ in gold.

He has never loved anyone. A man like him cannot. But if he loved, he would love her. She is fury; she burns cold; she is honest in her loathing. He admires that. 

A man like him loves honesty –

– like a bullet loves a heart.


End file.
